Secret identity? What secret identity?

The Golden Age notion of secret identity was a little different from today's. As I've probably mentioned elsewhere, while it may have been that Steve Rogers was able to conceal his Captain America role fairly easily, this couldn't have been the case for Bucky. For one thing, what was Bucky's codename? Bucky. They didn't even give him a different codename--they just used the same name that everyone he knew called him by.

And if you, like me, ever wondered whether this made it easier for the bad guys to find him? Yes. Yes, it did.



The villain of this piece wanted to find Bucky, so what did he do? He went to where his civilian identity lived. In a tent. No lockable doors or anything, and yet he's sitting on his cot, in costume, reading comic books. Yeah, the bad guy found him. He doesn't seem particularly bothered by it, but the bad guy found him.

And yet he does try to maintain a secret identity. Here we see Cap covering his face with his shield when Betty Ross shows up and might recognize him. Clearly, they both prefer not to be known. Just as clearly, however, they don't always take any particular steps to prevent discovery.



You know, there's probably no point in trying to find consistency in Golden Age books. But I try. :)